EC Renews Calls For Common Tax Base
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has called for a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings.
Vestager appeared before a hearing of the European Parliament’s Special Tax Rulings Committee on May 5. In her opening remarks, she said: “There is a lot of secrecy around tax rulings. Member states are not transparent about their rulings and exchange very few of them.”
Vestager said that there has been no pattern to the Commission’s investigations of the rulings handed down by individual European Union (EU) member states. “We have now asked every country about their tax rulings. With our limited resources, we look at cases that will set a precedent, so that we generate incentives for member states to change,” she explained.
Vestager added that, “for the Commission to work in a dedicated, fast and just manner, we need at least the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings and a common consolidated corporate tax base. We might also have to prepare guidelines for member states to explain in detail what is allowed and what is not. But for that we need more case law.”
When asked whether the adoption of the enhanced cooperation procedure by a group of member states would help deliver a CCCTB, Vestager replied that “enhanced cooperation between a coalition of the willing is not a good idea, as it might scare member states away and because competition is important for all the EU member states.”
